Drow of Twilight
by Dalsethel
Summary: A renegade drow conjurer is given a chance at life in a realm where he can be accepted, where he can be above ground without the light burning his eyes. A land of eternal twilight. The catch? The realm is being invaded by the great old ones, infecting minds and warping bodies to suit their needs. Very few people stand in their way... and many join them willingly. Written by rolls.
1. A new world

**A/N HEY Y'ALL! IM NOT DEAD! Sorry for not updating anything. I've had writers block. Updates: The givers tale and Blood and Lightning are on hiatus. I'll get back to them eventually. Son of storms: not happening. In the meantime NEW STUFF WITH A NEW OC! YAAAAAAYYYY! I'll let you meet him.**

Pelloth's eyes opened to a strange sight. He was in a forest filled with dusky silver light, with stars twinkling overhead. It was strange to him because he'd never seen such a place before. Pelloth was a drow. A renegade to be sure, but a drow nonetheless. This place, with it's neverending sky and perpetual light frightened him. The moon shone overhead, casting yet more light into the clearing, and a figure appeared in a single ray directly under it. It was female, and looked how humans were described to the students at the academy, though the skin was several shades darker than average. It wore a white dress, and it's hair was a similar shade. It should have been the most terrifying thing the young drow conjurer had seen… but it wasn't. She felt comforting. Familiar. She smiled at him. "Come closer. I won't hurt you." Slowly, Pelloth stalked over. "Who are you?" The figure tilted its head to the side, thinking. "I'm known by many names. Selune, Artemis, Yue. You may call me by any of those you wish, young one." The drow's eyes flared with anger "I'll have you know I am nearly half a century old!" The spirit giggled in response. Pelloth soon calmed himself. "What is this place?" Yue shook her head sadly. "It is your home. The plane of perpetual twilight. And it is in danger. Old beings stir… infecting minds and turning them to their own purposes. You are my chosen. Fight them. Or watch the one place you could call home forever be lost to the void." Confusion filled the drow. Artemis spoke. "These creatures are known as the great old ones. Their powers are vast, and you must grow strong to defeat them. I have faith that you can accomplish this. Go now, into your world." She flared brightly. "Go!" And the next moment, she vanished.

A path of silvery cobblestone appeared beneath Pelloth's feet, leading deeper into the forest. Seeing no other option, he followed it. After walking for about an hour, he came to a fork in the road. A signpost pointed down each path. One read "Pemwood, 50 yards, Population: 100", and the other simply read "labyrinth". The drow stopped and thought for a minute. Pemwood sounded like a town, which could be a good place to pick up supplies. On the other hand, most dark things liked areas of secrecy. Labyrinths fit that description perfectly. Screams coming from the Pemwood road solidified his decision. He ran towards the town as fast as he could. When he got there, it was chaos. A group of what had recognizably once been half orcs fired blasts of black energy into a crowd of people trying to get away. The creatures were mutilated, with long tentacles where their mouths should have been, and eyes that glowed with greenish purple energy. Their arms sported long blades coming out of their forearms, wicked sharp and ebony black. Taking this all in, Pelloth targeted the one closest to him and yelled. " _Praecantatum!"_ A set of glowing magic missiles hurtled towards the aberration, punching into vital areas and turning it to black tar. The other three creatures stopped the carnage to look at their fallen companion before letting out simultaneous otherworldly shrieks. The farthest creature from pelloth struck first, letting out a brief chant, "̵̢̨̦̭̠̟̯̟͎̪̟̰̀̐̏̑̓͒́S̶̛̥̦̊̐̒̂͊̾̆̔̔̐́̅̕͝c̴̠̥̋h̵͚̆͛̄̚m̵̤̘̯͉̯͇͗͑̊͊̀̎͋̈́̄͌͂͆͝é̷̢͖̻̬̖̬͔̪͚̝͙̅͂̃̃̂̓͠r̶͙̯̺̥͔̖͇̓̉͌̕z̶͖̦͕̺̒̅͐̏̂̋̈́̎͒̀͠e̴͉̯͕̗̥͖̻̘̠̝̠̪̦̦̎̀̓̓̿̾̏̌͌͜n̴̨̡͉̦̲͗͋͠". The words buzzed around the drow's skull, before ringing to painful levels. He knelt, hurt but not beaten. Another of the creatures blasted at him with dark energy, creating psychic pressure, but the drow pushed through. Sensing this was going to end badly, Pelloth conjured a fog to obscure himself before exiting out the back of the cloud and running away from the doomed town. He stopped to catch his breath about two miles down the road to the labyrinth, where a campsite had been erected for travelers. Several people were there already, most of them human. The drow wandered over and sat by the fire to catch his breath. Subconsciously, he summoned his familiar, a black cat he had dubbed salem. The cat curled up on his lap, and before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep.

He awoke to screaming and maniacal giggling. Quickly standing up, he looked for the source. He didn't have to look far. A female of his own kind, wielding a black ivory like curved shortsword in one hand and a wand in the other was wreaking havoc around the camp. " _Praecantatum!"_ Three bolts of energy flew from his hand, streaking towards the witch and punching into her. She turned and narrowed her eyes before pointing her wand at him. "Ľ̴͎͈̳̜̳̆̍̏̌͋̐̅͂̔̾͝͝ā̷̹̪͖͔̩̹̂̾̐͘c̷̙̱̮̖̟̙̭̳̝̊̆h̷̛͈̰̥̾̓̿̍̔̃̔̍͋̔̈́͜e̸̢̝͎̮̮̹͈̾͊̀̀͑̎̈́̉̑̌̕͝ņ̶͖̼̘̲͎́̏̌͝͝" Pelloth let out a short, involuntary bark of laughter, but nothing more. He focused again and let out another burst of magic missiles **(A/N magic missile spam for the win. He only has two offensive spells, and the other one sucks so...)** The barrage did the trick, and the witch fell to her knees, dropping her sword and dissolving into black tar, much as the half orc mutate did. Curiously, the blade remained behind. He went over and picked it up, wiping it off on the grass before casting a spell of identification. " _Abolethic shortsword. Possesses a sharper than average edge_ **(+1)** _. Minor psychic influence towards chaos._ " He shrugged and slid the sword into his belt. It could be useful. The drow paused for a second. He felt… inspired. He pulled out his spellbook and got to work figuring out formulae

 **A/N WOOT! NO PLOT ARMOR YET HE LIVES ON! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW SCARED I WAS THAT HE WAS GONNA DIE! FUCK DISSONANT WHISPERS! Anyways… as you might have guessed, he leveled up at the end of the chapter. His spell list from the beginning is below, and the new spells will be revealed next chapter. Until then, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Spell list:**

 **Level: 2**

 **Cantrips:**

 **Acid splash**

 **Mage hand**

 **Prestidigitation**

 **1st level:**

 **Fog cloud**

 **Find familiar**

 **False life**

 **Feather fall**

 **Unseen servant**

 **Magic missile**

 **Identify**

 **Detect magic**


	2. A paladin allied and a town saved

**A/N HERE COMES CHAPTER TWO! NEW SPELLS!**

 **Misty step**

 **Knock**

 **HE IS STILL A LITTLE BITCH IN COMBAT!**

 **̶̧̘̍̅͗S̸̡̛̜͔̳̒i̸̹̗͚͌̌̕n̴̨͎̆́̀d̸̯͕̘̮̒͗̕ ̴̨͕̥̜͐̓S̸̺̺̘̺͗̑̌͋i̵̳̮͕̲͒̍̒͝e̶͕̪̭̾ ̸̗̓͐ḯ̸̯̬̻̔͘ḿ̴̗̕͜͠ ̷̥͌̚͝Ê̷̺͈̮͊͒͝r̵͍̩͙̂͒̊̚n̷̞̄͝s̵̱͒̂̈́t̵̛̗̳̮̂̇͆?̶̧̠̱̊̿̕**

 **YES! I AM SERIOUS! HERE WE GO!**

Pelloth looked up from his spellbook feeling satisfied with himself. He'd figured out his first two second valence spells. Granted, they didn't fix his lack of offensive abilities, but they enabled more versatility. He slowly stood, stretching the stiffness from his legs. He had a long way to go to find another town. He followed the road, passing by a large variety of trees, giant mushrooms, and other flora. He saw a few deer through the trees, along with one large white wolf. Salem trotted close at his heels. He eventually came to a crossroads. The path straight ahead turned into a rickety rope and wood bridge, while the other path followed the chasm the bridge spanned. A dark figure sat at the end of the bridge. The drow decided to investigate. He carefully tested his weight on the bridge. It seemed sturdy enough, and it held true as he crossed. The figure turned out to be a half elf with drow as his elven half, evident by the darker tone of his skin, though it wasn't anywhere near the darkness of a true drow. He clasped a sword point down in his hands, wore a suit of scale mail, and had his head bent in prayer. A slight darkness permeated the area around him, but it held a note of cold purity, suggesting it was not an evil form of darkness. Pelloth reached down and shook the half-drow's shoulder. The half-drow turned his head up and looked directly into his half kins red eyes. He had strange yellow eyes, glowing with the light of infravision. "Who… who are you?" The half-drow sounded nervous, and from the redness around his eyes might have been grieving while praying. "My names Pelloth. I'm a wizard. And you are?"

"Th-Thoril of C-Candlevale. Or… I was. The town's gone now. Destroyed by these… things." His eyes flared with anger for a moment. "A-and I guess i'm a paladin of vengeance. I swore an oath to kill these things or die trying." he stood. "But i'm not strong enough on my own." Pelloth laughed a bit. "What a coincidence! I'm trying to kill these old ones, and I'm most definitely not strong enough to do it on my own. What would you say to us joining forces?" The half drow considered for a second. "There's strength in numbers. I'll go along with you. On one condition… you help me fight the dark spirit that led the creatures to my town." He looked pelloth straight in the eye. "It's a deal." They shook, and set off towards where Thoril said the spirit had taken up residence. The trees along the path grew darker, more gnarled. The smaller plants were spiky, making the duo have to watch their step. Then, they came to the remains of Candlevale. Very few buildings were still standing, and the ones that were were covered with dark slime. Without warning, a bolt of fire struck pelloth in the small of his back. The drow quickly recovered and whipped around to see who fired it. A humanoid figure, glowing red and with a smoky aura stood not ten feet away. The drow quickly fired a set of magic missiles, but a smoky shield of red energy sprung up to block them. Thoril charged in, slashing one handed with his longsword glowing with radiant energy which left a searing scar on the spirit. The spirit shouted "Γρήγορη φωτιά!" sending six rays of fire smashing into the paladins gut, causing him to fly off and receive serious burns. Pelloth quickly reinforced himself with necromantic energy, using a second valence incantation in place of the one he normally used. Meanwhile, Thoril charged in, screaming the Oath of the Blue, his sword again glowing with radiant energy. The sword plunged into the spirits chest, and light began crackling out across its form. It let out an unearthly wail, before bursting apart into thousands of smoking red shards which quickly sunk into the ground. Slowly, the corrupted plants began changing back to normal, while the black slime began rapidly evaporating, exposing people- living people- trapped beneath it. The town had been avenged, and the possibility for rebuilding it was definitely there. The adventurers set up a small fire in the hearth of a standing dwelling and slowly drifted off to sleep.

 **A/N Note to self: don't fuck with fifth level sorcerers. Near death of the chapter: Thoril, going from 36 hp to 6 hp in one burst of scorching rays. 4 out of six hit equaling out to 8d6 damage. Holy shit. Well, chapters done, and they won't be leveling up for a couple more chapters. Heres Thoril's spell list:**

 **Searing smite**

 **Cure wounds**

 **Shield of faith**

 **Divine favor**

 **Detect magic**

 **I know paladins don't have a "spells known" thing, these are just the spells he uses most frequently.**


	3. Candlevale

**A/N Hey y'all. It's upload day, and I figured I'd do something a little different. This is gonna focus mostly on exploring the town, familiarizing the main characters and you guys with the inhabitants, that kind of stuff. Should be a nice relaxing chapter.**

Pelloth woke up to the sounds of construction. He stretched and yawned, slowly standing up. Unlike most elves, the conjurer enjoyed true sleep instead of the trance elves normally used as a substitute. He let his eyes adjust for a couple of seconds before wandering outside. Several of the townsfolk were hard at work repairing damaged structures while several more were setting up small shops where the materials to do so could be found. There was a small bakery, a forge with a dwarf studiously shaping something, and an unusual shop where a hooded woman was busy writing something on a sheet of vellum in a slightly glowing blue ink. He meandered over to the woman, peeking over her shoulder at the spell. He recognized bits of it, including a bit for three rays, and a strange bit about darkness and death. She noticed him staring and turned to face him. "This is yours when it's done. It's the least I could do. Of course, you could have asked instead of staring over my shoulder." She sighed. "Where are my manners?" she stood, exposing a dark skinned face. "My names Vierna. You'll find a lot of people have at least some amount of drow blood in this world. I'm only a quarter drow, but it's there." She sat back down and scrawled a few more runes. "There, there, and there!" her eyes flashed with excitement as she rolled up the scroll and handed it to the conjurer. "I call it conflicted ray. It's a modified form of scorching ray, able to swap between fire and cold energy beams. Use it well. Oh, and feel free to use my tools to write it out in your spellbook, along with any others you find. They never run out, and you should be able to get it written within two hours."

"Erm.. thank you." Why was everyone, even those with drow blood, being so kind to him? He'd barely done anything in the fight against the sorcerer, that had all been Thoril. He'd failed to save Pemwood, and he was a complete outsider to this world. He shrugged a bit. People would be people. He noticed the dwarf headed towards a familiar figure, the half drows yellow eyes standing out even at this distance. The smith was carrying a broadsword with runes carved down the length of it's blade that were glowing a dark shade of blue. A gem was set in the center of the crossguard, carved in the shape of a diamond with small circles cut out of one half, while the other half was nearly completely removed other than a pair of small circles. It swirled with a thousand shades of blue. The smith reached Thoril and reverently handed the blade to him. "Yer a sentinel now boy. As such, ye' deserve a sentinel's blade." The half drow embraced the smith after carefully sheathing the sword, whispering something in his ear that made the dwarf smile warmly. Pelloth smiled as well before turning and walking into the forest. There was a pressing matter that needed taken care of. The entire time he'd been in this realm he hadn't had a focus or component pouch. It was time to fix that. He followed the trail until he found the tree he was looking for. It had stood out to him due to its peculiar coloration. It was smooth and barkless, with silver colored wood that seemed nearly metallic. He set to work with his sword, slowly working a meter long length out of a section where the silver coloration was particularly bright. His task complete, he went back to the village and sat down with the scribes tools. He began to carefully inscribe the runes burned into his brain over years of study in Sorcere, flowing and twisting like celtic knots. He lost track of time, and found it again nearly three hours later when the task was complete. The rod held the properties of a focus, imbued into it by the glowing white runes etched into its length. He gave it a quick test fire, releasing an orb of acid at a space between a pair of trees. The runes flared lime green, and the orb flew neatly through the center of the gap before splattering against another tree, eating slightly into the wood. Satisfied, he pulled out his spellbook and flipped to the next page with space on it. He looked at the scroll Vierna had given him. It would probably fit. He conjured a set of scribing tools similar to the ones he used at sorcere, comfortable in their familiarity, and began to write.

 **A/N *checks dates* Wow I haven't worked on this in a while. Bad Dal! *smacks self* Sorry. School started and life's been hectic. Ill try to stick with my normal Wednesday/Thursday uploads. I'll try to have the next chapter uploaded sometime tonight.**

 **New stuff: Arcane focus (rod)-Pelloth**

 **Spell (Conflicted Ray)-Pelloth**

 **Longsword +1- Thoril**


	4. Clerics with a side of Monsters

**A/N Alright, chapter four. Where to go, what to do… OH! Is it cleric time? I think it's cleric time. *rolling to randomly determine domain* Also, got permission for a fun concept from a favorite author of mine on this site...**

 _The cleric sat atop a mountain, looking down on the world below. He could feel the darkness invading his realm… and something doing it's best to purge it. He stood and began to find his way down the mountain. He would help this force… this Drow chosen by the moon._

Pelloth shook of his spell scribing trance. He always phased out while working, writing formulae, those kinds of things. He looked at the formula, noting the complexity of the wording and the different somatic gestures for the separate energies. He stood and took a spellcasting stance. He had the formulas inscribed, but that was only half the work required. He had to practice the actual act of casting the spell. He closed his eyes and started letting the words for the frost ray flow off his tongue, " _Accipunt inimicum ignem."_ Faint music filled his ears. He cursed. He'd done something wrong and created a surge of wild magic, along with wasting a substantial portion of his energy. He took up the stance again, focusing on a tree a few yards in front of him. He let the words of power roll off his tongue. The runes on his focus flared into brilliant blue light, and three thick columns of blue light hurtled towards the tree. The beams impacted the tree, freezing it solid before immediately shattering it. He cheered internally before regaining his focus. He aimed skyward, preparing the incantation for the flaming rays. " _Adolebitque hostibus meis!"_ The runes flared with golden light and three thin beams of flame shot skyward, bringing temporary daylight to the eternal twilight. The drow closed his burning eyes, trying to block out the pain the temporary flash of brightness had brought him. He heard footsteps approaching and drew his sword, holding it expertly despite his temporary blindness. He felt a want to cause chaos in the name of good niggling at his mind before enveloping him completely. He swung his sword towards the sound, only to meet a solid wall of force. An unfamiliar voice spoke.

"I do not wish to harm you, drow who has been chosen by the moon. I received a vision from my goddess and wish to help your quest… the quest to destroy the darkness invading this realm." the voice paused for a second. "You have blinded yourself. Allow me to help." Pelloth felt a hand on his forehead, followed by a gentle sensation of magic flowing down into his eyes. The pain subsided and he opened them, finding himself able to see again. Standing in front of him was a humanoid with pale blue skin wearing a black hooded tunic under an iron breastplate emblazoned with a silver moon symbol. "I am Amal, a cleric of selune. I have lived on a mountain for the past year, waiting for a sign that I was needed in the world. And now I have received a vision of a drow conjurer, young-" Pelloth snorted "but powerful." the cleric finished. "Out of curiosity, how old are you, conjurer?"

Pelloth shrugged. "45, maybe 50. I… don't keep track that well." The cleric seemed to smile. "You are young… even younger than I imagined. Most spellcasters of your kind are on at least past their first century." The conjurer's eyes flared in anger before quickly cooling. The cleric had to repress a giggle. It wasn't befitting of his station to laugh at such petty things. "Sensitive about that aren't you?" The drow stared darkly before slapping the cleric across the face. Amal winced. "OW!" his voice changed from it's usual deep serious tone for a second, revealing a much younger voice. "That hurt! I guess I deserved it though…" His voice regained its previous tone "I apologize. I should not have taunted you. It was childish and immature. Will you forgive me?" the drow stared for a couple more seconds before responding. "Alright. Fine. Just don't do it again." They slowly wandered towards a new shop that had been set up. A gnome sat there, happily humming as he worked on something. With almost supernatural awareness, he turned and looked at the two of them before they'd said a word.

"'Lo there travelers! How ya doin?" the gnome chirped in an odd accent. "Names Sir Pimsy Applecore Brian Filchbatter the third, but my friends call me Pimbatter! And I can see you're good people, so you two qualify as my friends! OH! Look at this! I just finished it!" He pulled out a small bronze cylinder with a flint and a lever on top. He clicked it, releasing a burst of tiny fireworks, at which he began to giggle. "Whaddaya think? Exciting? Interesting? Exotic? Any other adjectives?" The drow and the cleric just stared at him, still processing the tiny gnomes seemingly boundless energy.

After a few seconds, the drow managed to answer. "Err… it's... colorful! And pretty interesting. And definitely exotic." The cleric nodded in wordless agreement.

The gnome giggled again. "Well, i'm glad you liked it! Anyway, I assume you're wondering what I sell? Well even if you aren't, i'll tell you! I sell a variety of little clockwork items, alchemical concoctions, explosives, that kind of stuff! So, you interested?" The two adventurers looked at eachother.

"No thanks-" Pelloth began "We're fine." Amal finished. They began to wander off, wondering what had just happened.

 _Elsewhere_

 _A group of high ranking old one warlocks stood around a red orb that was pulsing with inner light. Images appeared in a spiderweb like pattern around them. In one of the images, a group of anthromals with various natural weapons fought against a rhino covered in a slick looking red substance. Vials of some sort of serum lay on a set of benches, unnoticed by the creatures. A warlock gently reached through and grabbed a box of them, bringing it to the land of twilight. He pulled a vial out. A label read G.E.O C-100-6. He beckoned to a half elf thrall, willing it to kneel before him while keeping it's head up. Recreating a scene he had viewed months earlier in the same reality the serum came from, he filled a syringe with the serum and injected it into the thrall's eye. It began to buck and twist, before falling down, breathing heavily. The warlock smiled. This endeavor would be fruitful._

 **A/N here we go! For any of you in the dark, the G.E.O serums come from the world of Zootopia: Monsters and Animals, an extremely well written fanfic on this very site. Look it up if you are interested. It's amazing.**

 **Alternately for those interested, here's a link:**

Zootopia: Monsters and Animals

 **Amal's spells:**

 **Cantrips: Sacred flame, spare the dying, thaumaturgy**

 **1st level: Bless, cure wounds, guiding bolt, detect magic, healing word, shield of faith**

 **2nd level:lesser restoration, spiritual weapon, prayer of healing, aid.**


	5. The battle of Candlewood Pt1

**A/N Hey y'all! Here comes the next chapter! Back on track after introductions and crap. WOOT!**

 _The black tabaxi inhaled deeply, tracking the scent of the drow it's masters were so interested in. The serum had increased its already potent senses to extreme levels, and following the scent was easy as breathing- literally. It came across a village, where the drow was conversing with a half drow and- empty night- a moon elf. The tabaxi could feel the power coming off of the latter, potentially greater than the wizard. It scampered off to inform its masters of this new development._

 _ **Some time later**_

 _A squadron of purple green lizardfolk surrounded Candlevale. Among them were several of the new super soldiers, marked by stripes of black ichor running down their snouts from their eyes, and a set of five warlocks, marked by black leather collars and gloves. The horn blew, and they stormed the village._

Pelloth, Thoril, and Amal looked at the rapidly approaching group of lizardfolk. All of them had their eyes set on the trio. Two manifested blades of bone from their forearms, while the other three manifested twisted rods of pure shadow. The blades struck first, leaping the remainder of the distance, slicing downwards. One scored a hit on Thoril, slashing a large tear in his shoulder, following quickly with a thrust to the abdomen that pierced clean through the half drows breastplate. Pelloth fired a burst of scorching rays, catching the other one midair, burning it heavily and knocking it prone. It quickly got up and began to retreat before a blade of radiant energy in the shape of a crescent moon appeared in front of it, slashing it's torso, cleaving it in two sending droplets of black ichor flying all around. Thoril let out a yell, slashing at the arm still impaled in his stomach with his sword blazing, slashing clean through. He pulled the blade out and quickly stitched up the wound with his innate reservoir of healing energy. The warlocks shot three simultaneous blasts of eldritch energy at Pelloth, two of them striking him directly in the chest. The drow flew several feet before landing, crumpling in a heap. His eyes went out of focus, and he could feel darkness pressing in… sweet painless darkness. Slowly, the battle went out of focus…

He was in the Baenre chapel, staring as his sister was inducted into the priesthood. The scene shifted, and he stood before the withered form of his mother, aiming his first rod at her head. He fired a globe of acid that consumed her ancient head... or so he thought. The thing melted into slush, revealing it to be a simulacrum. He ran from his home- no, not home, merely birthplace- past the spider web fence, and kept running until he had put Menzoberranzan far behind him. The vision shifted again, to about five years after he escaped. He stood watching as a drow wielding dual scimitars viciously hacked at a basilisk long after the beast was dead. Many more scenes played before slowly, the vision faded into darkness.

 **A/N annnd first cliffhanger. You guys, gals, and helicopters probably weren't expecting him to be part of** _ **that**_ **family were you? Anyways, see you next time. Stories not over yet!**


End file.
